Endophytes are microbes that live inside plants — the ones tagged with a fluorescent dye in this image are found in poplars. The microbes gather nitrogen from the air, turning it into a form plants can use, a process called nitrogen fixation. Researchers are looking at how these microbes could be used to help crops like rice and corn make their own fertilizer.
Sam Scharffenberger
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A block of Tomme de Savoie cheese ages with a sweater of Mucor lanceolatus fungal mold. Mucor itself doesn't have a strong taste, but more flavorful bacteria can travel far and wide along its hyphae â the microscopic, branched tendrils that fungi use to bring in nutrients.
Benjamin Wolfe/Benjamin Wolfe
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Microorganisms play a vital role in growing food and sustaining the planet, but they do it anonymously. Scientists haven't identified most soil microbes, but they are learning which are most common.
PeopleImages/Getty Images
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Watch Earth's History Play Out On A Football Field

Pam Marrone (right), founder and CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations, inspects some colonies of microbes. Marrone has spent most of her professional life prospecting for microbial pesticides and bringing them to market.
Dan Charles/NPR
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Plankton collected in the Pacific Ocean with a 0.1mm mesh net. Seen here is a mix of multicellular organisms — small zooplanktonic animals, larvae and single protists (diatoms, dinoflagellates, radiolarians) — the nearly invisible universe at the bottom of the marine food chain.
Christian Sardet/CNRS/Tara Expeditions
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Soil Doctors Hit Pay Dirt In Manhattan's Central Park

Rugby and meat: a treat for the gut? A study suggests yes. Here Tony Woodcock (left) and Owen Franks of the All Blacks rugby team turn sausages on the barbecue in 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Phil Walter/Getty Images
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